Meanings
present singular third person burns down · participle present burning down · participle past burned down · past burned down · participle past burnt down · past burnt down
- transitiveTo cause (a structure) to burn to nothing.
The police are hoping to find the people who burned down the cottage.
- intransitiveTo burn completely, so that nothing remains.
A fire which started in the bedroom caused the cottage to burn down.
1 more example
The first Earl's Court station (1871) was a wooden hut in the middle of a market garden. It served a District connection between West Brompton and the West London Line. It managed to burn down in 1875, and the Earl's Court of today dates from 1878.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 79Synonyms: burn away, burn up, burn, burn away, burn up, burn to a crisp, char up, cinder
- slangtransitiveTo kill (someone), especially by shooting; to attack (someone).
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo burn completely, so that nothing remains.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Afrikaans afbrand
- afbrandcause a structure to burn to nothing
Bulgarian опожарявам
- опожарявам (opožarjavam)cause a structure to burn to nothing
Chinese Mandarin 燒毀 /烧毁, 焚毀 /焚毁
- 燒毀 /烧毁 (shāohuǐ)cause a structure to burn to nothing
- 焚毀 /焚毁 (fénhuǐ)cause a structure to burn to nothing
- 燒光 /烧光 (shāoguāng)completely burn so that nothing remains
- 燒掉 /烧掉 (shāodiào)completely burn so that nothing remains
Dutch platbranden, afbranden
- platbrandencause a structure to burn to nothing
- afbrandencause a structure to burn to nothing
- platbrandencompletely burn so that nothing remains
- afbrandencompletely burn so that nothing remains
Finnish polttaa, polttaa maan tasalle
- polttaacause a structure to burn to nothing
- polttaa maan tasallecause a structure to burn to nothing
- palaa poroksicompletely burn so that nothing remains
- palaa maan tasallecompletely burn so that nothing remains
French carboniser, se carboniser
- carbonisercause a structure to burn to nothing
- se carbonisercompletely burn so that nothing remains
German abbrennen, niederbrennen
- abbrennencause a structure to burn to nothing
- niederbrennencause a structure to burn to nothing
- abbrennencompletely burn so that nothing remains
- niederbrennencompletely burn so that nothing remains
Hungarian leéget, leég
- leégetcause a structure to burn to nothing
- leégcompletely burn so that nothing remains
Latin combūrō, exūrō
- combūrōcause a structure to burn to nothing
- exūrōcause a structure to burn to nothing
- combūrōcompletely burn so that nothing remains
- exūrōcompletely burn so that nothing remains
Polish spalać, spalić
- spalaćcause a structure to burn to nothing
- spalićcause a structure to burn to nothing
- spalaćcompletely burn so that nothing remains
- spalićcompletely burn so that nothing remains
Portuguese carbonizar
- carbonizarcause a structure to burn to nothing
Russian сжечь дотла́, сгоре́ть дотла́
- сжечь дотла́ (sžečʹ dotlá)cause a structure to burn to nothing
- сгоре́ть дотла́ (sgorétʹ dotlá)completely burn so that nothing remains
Spanish incendiar, arrasar
- incendiarcause a structure to burn to nothing
- arrasarcause a structure to burn to nothing
- incendiarsecompletely burn so that nothing remains
Swedish elda upp, bränna ner
- elda uppcause a structure to burn to nothing
- bränna nercause a structure to burn to nothing
- brinna nercompletely burn so that nothing remains
- brinna uppcompletely burn so that nothing remains
Cite this entry
burn down. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burn%20down
“burn down.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burn%20down. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “burn down,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burn%20down.
Source: burn down on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.